Wednesday, December 4, 2013

From Dev to Release version

...without deleting the app from your device.

Back story:
I do a bunch of testing on all my devices AND I also use (play) live apps on my device(s). In the past I resorted to deleting my test build app and then installing my newly released version, thus loosing all my IAP's and other non-Game Center stats(2).

I've recently started using this method:
Once my new version has been released and is available on the store I take a copy of my current project and reset the version back to the previous one and build for the device. Now I install this version onto my devices. Then either with iTunes (after updating the app) or the App Store on each device, I download and install the updated (released) version. This allows me to install the new updated version without loosing any of my saved data.

Notes:
1: It's worth mentioning that if you install your live (released) version on your device and then you install your new test build with Xcode, your app will not show up in the list of Applications as (I'm spit-balling here) it replaces the production version of your app. The downside is you cannot get at the app bundle via Xcode.
2: All my game have a resync Game Center functionality (I guess just for me).